Latest fully renovated shop units and offices available to rent from £29 to £49 per week, up to £78 for prime High Street frontage…
Abbey Studios Business Centre
We regularly have office and shop units available to rent from £29 to £78 per week. The average is rental for starter units is £49 per week. This is an ideal way to see if your business idea will work in the High Street. We make best efforts to keep rents affordable. If or when you are happy with a year or two trading, we will be delighted to walk up and down the High Street with you and when you see an empty shop that you like, we are able to look at buying and renovating it for you to grow your business to the next level (more details further into this page).
For established businesses, you may just want an affordable office of High Street premise that is well-presented and in an easily locatable place. Abbey Studios is certainly well signposted as it is right opposite Arbroath Abbey. So just recommend your customer follow the many signposts for “Arbroath Abbey” and they will easily find you opposite this magnificent historic building…
^^ Arbroath Abbey (c) Don~Music ^^
To enquire about leasing one of the units at Abbey Studios, please just phone or text one of our directors on:
Just Contact:
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
Meanwhile, this page narrates how 37 years of bringing High Streets’ back to life can work. To summarise: our original (and current) way to bring commercial buildings back to a useful life, and especially remove the curse of empty shops that so often make High Streets all across the country, look like a commercial mortuary for buildings. The journey so far is told in the paragraphs and examples that follow…
To remedy this and bring High Streets back to life, a random set of events followed. It took a big public meeting by the Mull of Kintyre at which 600 local folk gathered one cold January night last century to work out a way for saving their town’s High Street. The first shop brought back to life happened to be several hundred miles away near to London (more on that later). At the old January night meeting a local Harbour Master in the audience put his paw in the air and asked the great an the good who were seated on the town hall stage (MPs and Council CEO plc plus dignitaries). The question was more of a bet! The Harbour Master asked the CEO of the local enterprise organisation that if he bought an empty shop (£7,500 at that time) and the Argyll & Island Enterprise agency bought the adjacent shop (£7,250); that whoever got their shop renovated and a young local person established in a viable business would in the shop would win a bottle of Springbank malt whisky? When questioned, the Harbour Master mentioned that he had and a couple of good friends had already tried this out near to his brother’s home near to London and rescuing shops seems to work. As long as the renovation is good quality and the rents are kept reasonable (abut 7.5% ROI is a figure that is almost perfect for shareholders and tenants)!
^^ The Very First Shop Renovation 1988 ^^
Near To London (c) “Historic Lettering”: Here
Though the real winner was the town and young folk who did not want to move away from their home to find employment. The Argyll & Islands Enterprise Organisation CEO said: “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s the Tesco effect, local shops just need to be turned into flats”. He got booed by the audience. To his embarrassment, the Harbour Master was given a round of applause and went a bit red in the face. Tellingly the CEO of AIE never spoke to the Harbour Master again. But as sometimes happens, the idea was planted and the Harbour Master went and bought the empty shop in Kintyre. Some friends at that meeting clubbed together and bought the adjacent shut-shop in what they termed later as an “Accidental Success”…
^^ The Two Closed-Down Shops Before Renovation ^^
The idea worked. Several more friends joined in, and 37 years later there are 53 re-opened premises (plus another 25 from friends who have been helped to do this too).
In total, 78 re-opened shops + hotels + industrial units.
Only 2 or 3 jobs each, but to date the total number of jobs brought back to life is 233. None too shabby a result from a two hall meeting by the Mull of Kintyre, with renovated shops and new jobs popping up all over the U.K.
^^ The Two Closed-Down Shops After Renovation ^^
It may help our readers follow some of the evets, that a mentor to all of this was the late James Gulliver, a local lad himself (next door neighbour to the Harbour Master). Mr Gulliver and his business partner Sir Alistair Grant established Argyll Group plc and the Safeway Supermarket chain (now Morrisons). It helps inspire folk when a member of the community has already led by example.
Plus in true David “Del-Boy” Jason style there are 8 new jobs in America to add to that total. But that was genuinely an accident as it was supposed to be a holiday and one of our crew couldn’t resist buying a bargain American diner (he is Scottish so the ultra low price is what sealed that deal). In the vast majority of projects, these tend to be based in the UK.
At first, it was a small number of friends who pooled between £5,000 and £20,000 of spare savings. To ensure financial probity and safety, we banned mortgages on our buildings and banned bank borrowing. Plus buildings’ insurance made for a fairly safe series of adventures. This process results in enough funds to buy a closed-down shop or shut-hotel or derelict-industrial unit. The budget an contingency funds are more than sufficient to ensure the building is fully renovated and required + replumbed + insulated and all matters brought up to the highest safety standards.
A key part of the process is we only advertise the building for rent for a maximum of 6 weeks. If that does not progress things, we help someone to start their own business and offer “Dragon’s Den” style support in making helping the new business become established and remain viable.
We still aim to keep rents affordable. Indeed, newer process is to purchase a building that serves as a “Business Centre” within the High Street. That enables even the most modest of business idea to be trialled at a very affordable rent. Typically £4 o £7 a day (2024~2025 rental levels). If th business proves workable and the owner’s confience is lifted, we walk withthem up and down the High Street to find an empty shop that thy like and buy/renovate that. Our tenant from th buiness centre then moves into the new (bigger) hop ad grwos the business at a pace which suits them.
In due course, we offer the tenant opportunity to buy the premises at a discount. Around 50% say yes. Those who prefer renting are given a solid long-term lease for their business security and the premises sold to someone who just seeks a reliable and viable business tenant in a reasonably well renovated building. Typically a person (new landlord) who is looking for a good SIPP property (click here). So far this process has worked, time after time after time. It is certainly a tried and tested way to bring High Streets back to life.
Just £4 to £7 per day for a High Street presence!
This building has offices available from £29 per week. The average is £49 per week for a fully refurbished office in this totally renovated building. Located right across the road from the Arbroath Abbey landmark.
Welcome to the fully renovated: Abbey Studios Business Centre and managed by our Scotslion team of business mentors + job creation specialists (click here).
=> Our aim? To help newstart businesses become nurtured and established in this business centre (and our others) to the point, where the business owner has built up their customer-base and financial reserves, along with confidence to move from the business centre and to their own bespoke High Street shop.
^^ Abbey Studios Business Centre ^^
There are 6 offices/shop units in our…
Abbey Studios Business Centre, 280 High Street, Arbroath, DD11 1JF.
We also bought the adjacent building. That has 8 offices and 2 storage units.
those are a If you would like to rent an affordable office or relatable unit from £4.15 per day to £7 per day, please contact our main office for a chat…
Just Contact…
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
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To give you an idea of the layout, here is the Ground Floor of Abbey Studios Business Centre. There are six offices/retail units (number 7 is a staff canteen/welfare area)…
^^ Abbey Studios, Plan Drawing ^^
^^ Ground Floor ^^
Here is a short video that was made in 2023 (just as the final “snagging” was being sorted out) and prior to the new tenants moving in…
^^ Video Tour^^
^^ Abbey Studios Business Centre ^^
For folk who wonder how we keep our rents so low?
=> We ban bank mortgages.
All of our buildings are 100% owned by our shareholder-base. No bank mortgages thanks.
We started with three friends in 1990 pooling some savings that were attracting a meagre 1.5% interest from the banks and put our funds into an empty shop for renovation. The rental income from that was a mutually agreeable 7.5% between landlord and tenant. Far better than our bank could manage. We owned an asset-backed and fully insured property.
=> Best of all, our tenants have freshly renovated premises that are often 30% to 40% LESS to rent than other units in the High Street.
Okay, the banks may be sad, but we are happy and so too are many of our tenants!
In the Abbey Studios Business Centre example, the whole building had been laying dilapidated for 7 years.
We bought the property and renovated it.
Now, the Ground Floor is leased from the building owner (Tayport Group Ltd) for 6 years from 1st January 2023 by Scotslion Ltd (here). The Head-Lease is: £16,000 per annum, and payable at £1,333.33 per calendar month.
=> Each office/retail unit within the building is then sub-let to the newstart tenant and (if desired) nurtured by Scotslion Ltd., as we have several decades of what the Americans call “Business Angel” experience to give.
This way of working also regularises rental income to the building owner. Scotslion Ltd., has a track record and is very happy to ensure each month’s rent is paid in full and on time. Scotslion then collects the rental income for each unit within the particular business centre and ensures that each business is safe insofar as we can help with the vagaries of the current (post-covid) economic climate.
=> Crucially the head-lease to Scotslion Ltd., ensures that each newstart business sub-tenants have security for as long as they wish to rent the offices/retail units in the Abbey Studios Business Centre. Whether that be 6 months or 6 to 12 years and more.
Current (2024/2025) rental levels are £29pw (unit 3) and £49pw (units 4, 5 and 6). The premiere high-profile corner units 1 & 2 are £78pw & £76pw respectively.
^^ Office 1, Abbey Studios ^^
It should be noted that there is a remote monitored CCTV system throughout the Abbey Studios Business Centre and a secure, digital keypad at the Main Reception area to pass through before visitors can access any of the office…
The whole premises are alarmed and Arbroath Police Station is just a few minutes away in the next street. The security of the building is reasonably well covered. The CCTV system is comprehensive and connected to a 24 hour monitoring security company, as well as to the Scotslion management offices…
If you study the CCTV photographs you can begin to follow how secure the premises are…
^^ Main Reception CCTV ^^
^^ At Abbey Studios Business Centre ^^
^^ Scotslion Office Safety Centre ^^
In addition the entire building has been rewired, replumbed. Each office has it’s own consumer unit and separate electricity meter to ensure the bills are fairly apportioned.
=> Tenants simply take a photo of their office electricity meter and text it to our director at the end of each month…
A new, state of the art alarm system has been installed…
^^ New Fire Alarm System ^^
^^ & Security Alarm ^^
Returning to the actual offices, the solicitor-tenant has leased a full suite of three offices. Here is Office 2…
^^ Office 2, Abbey Studios ^^
The solicitor-tenant is awaiting estate agency fittings for the big window that faces the High Street.
^^ Office 3, Abbey Studios ^^
£39 Per Week
^^ Office 4, Abbey Studios ^^
£49 Per Week
^^ Office 4, Abbey Studios ^^
£49 Per Week
The adjacent Office 5 is a similar size and when available is rentable at £49 per week.
That is just £7 a day. A reasonable way to gently get your business started…
^^ Office 5, Abbey Studios ^^
£49 Per Week
Rented Within A Couple of Days
The tenant from Office 6 has just expanded by leasing two office on the first floor next door at Endeavour House.
=> We make best efforts to ensure flexibility for our tenants. Whether helping tenants grow their company from one of our business centres to (a) larger offices/more offices, or (b) we are happy to buy an empty shop and renovate it in a bespoke manner to suit the needs of our tenants to rent (some go on to buy the shops/offices/shops from us as their business and confidence grown).
In the past 35 years we have bought over 78 empty/disused premises and helped a total of 203 people secure their employment.
For now, we have Office number 6 for rent on the Ground Floor. £49 per week (£7 per day)…
^^ Office 5, Abbey Studios ^^
£49 Per Week
We have office/units in the Abbey Studios Business Centre to suit all budgets. From Unit 3 at…
^^ All Budgets Catered For ^^
To Units 4, 5, and 6 at…
^^ To View An Office/Shop For Rent ^^
Just Contact:
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
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Growing Business
If our tenants are keen and ready to move to larger premises, we generally recommend they walk along the High Street and choose an empty shop or closed-down office that would suit their next phase of growth.
We then negotiate to buy this. Thereafter renovate the empty shop/office to the tenant’s requirements and even supply the vans to help move the tenant into their larger, bespoke premises.
This way, we are able to work to bring High Streets back to life.
^^ Ground Floor Hallway ^^
Staff Canteen Included In The Rent
WC Washroom Facilities On All Floors
Our latest business centre building in Arbroath did not look like this when we bought it. There were extensive leaks in the roof. These were promptly repaired…
^^ First Job: Overhaul/Renew Roof ^^
The broken window seemed secure, but we weren’t taking any chances that someone might hurt themselves. So that was repaired very efficiently…
^^ High Street Windows ^^
^^ Not Cheap, But Important ^^
Meanwhile, the damage a leaky roof causes to an empty building can be ruinous.
Fortunately we caught this property before too much damage had been done. Mostly the plasterboard had been saturated.
So we let the building dry out, disposed (responsibly) of the ruined plasterboard + cleaned up the structure. Whilst we were at it, one of our directors managed to secure high-quality RWA45 insulation at £20 a pack instead of £26 per pack. We had two other renovation projects at that time: Noss Head Lighthouse Station and Sannox Hotel. So our director bought two articulated trailer loads of RWA45…
^^ Two Lorries Loaded ^^
^^ With RWA45 Insulation ^^
This was BEFORE the electricity and heating prices went UP so harshly.
Looking back on what seemed like an eccentric purchase by a director with a tight-wallet saving 30% on insulation, we hare very happy at biting the bullet and buying a second lorry load…
^^ Second Lorry Being Unloaded ^^
^^ RWA45 Insulation ^^
^^ Saves Our Tenants’ A Fortune ^^
All of this insulation might seem boring, but our tenants advise it has it has HALVED the electricity bills. That helps make their businesses more viable. Everyone wins.
Here is the RWA45 being put into the spaces that previously had NO insulation…
^^ New Insulation in Old Spaces ^^
^^ Plus Proper Fire Retardant
^^ Plasterboard ^^
^^ Double Sheeted & Overlapped ^^
We tend to over-engineer our renovations. At the time of each, you are talking about £4.75 per sheet of “ordinary” plasterboard, and £6.25 for the fire-retardant quality boarding.
=>Many of Tayport Group’s team members have worked in the emergency services. Several have attended fatal fires. So for a few extra pounds, we are not skimping on making our buildings as safe as possible.
On the subject of safety, this building had the most dangerous looking gas central heating system we have ever seen. So the WHOLE system was removed and binned by an appropriately qualified firm of gas engineers. Even the gas meter was taken out.
^^ Out With The Old Gas System ^^
We figured that with a major amount of new insulation throughout the building, we could afford to go with electric heating.
=> During 2024 we are launching a new project: a Community Owned Eco-Power Stations, and one of our subsidiaries will be supplying electricity at a 50% discount, then we beat the old gas central heating costs and go across to renewable heating into the bargain.
All in all, the arithmetic works out and we do not have to risk gas poisoning (inside or outside of the building).
^^ Abbey Studios Being Freshly Plastered ^^
Seeing old, closed and tired High Street buildings come back to life is a huge buzz.
Here is one of the fully renovated first floor offices from back in 2023 (now rented out)…
First Floor Corner Office
The subscribers and directors have over 50 years experience in building renovation + management between them. Crucially this is helping newstart businesses become established. Tayport Group Ltd., sub-let the full building and manage the rental of each office/shop unit.
This includes the building maintenance and repairs. This means the owner is left in peace with an asset-backed investment.
=> The directors and shareholders then usually place the building with a SIPP pension fund as it has an asset-backed investment with a fully managed rental portfolio in the building.
This enables the seedcorn funds dating way back to 1990 to be recycled…
Into the next Business Centre, which in turn helps create more jobs and once the new-start businesses have gained in confidence, they move to bespoke, renovated shops/offices in the High Street. Thereby bringing the High Street back to life.
But this is only half the vocational enjoyment.
We love helping new businesses get started. As time goes by, there is a decent amount of experience and knowledge to share.
If you are curious about all this, we have a new venture that has been brewing ever since our managing director served as a police officer in Kintyre and the house owned by a certain musician was on our director’s rural beat.
=> This duty to make sure a musician and his family was safe might seem like a fairy routine thing. But horrifically one of the other band members had been gunned down in New York on 8th December 1980. We are not mentioning names at all because the murderer was seeking fame.
So at that time, a few miles away from the Mull of Kintyre, we made very sure that our musician and his family were kept as safe as was possible.
Ever since then, and being of the generation where we got our music on vinyl (and then under protest on CD), there has been a curiosity about building our own music studio. An affordable one.
We will be covering this musical adventure in one of our sister publication: Unique Property Bulletin in due course. But here, in the next photo is a hint. Though given the name of the building we just renovated and featured on this page, perhaps not that big a surprise…
^^ The More Famous EMI Abbey Road Studios ^^
Photo (c) Paul Gillett & Geograph CC
^^ The Now Iconic “Beatles” Crossing ^^
Photo (c) Iain Crump & Geograph CC
For The Famous Version: Click Here
This endeavour started in 1989 with our first empty premises (near to London) bought in an effort to bring a tired High Street back to life. By 2012 we realised this was more than just a few shops being brought back to life. It (including the dialogue of this page) is becoming an accidental success.
It has been a source of much enjoyment to renovate + re-open empty buildings and help folk get a good start in their business.
If you are looking to rent high quality office space, please feel free to get in touch…
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
Perhaps your business is ready to move from the spare bedroom or garage to a higher profile, professional High Street location?
The Abbey Studios Business Centre is directly across the road from Arbroath Abbey. This makes these office/retail units very easy to locate as there are lots of advisory road signs directing motorists and visitors to “Arbroath Abbey”…
^^ Arbroath Abbey ~ National Landmark ^^
Directly Across The Road From…
Abbey Studios Business Centre
One a business has become established at our Abbey Studios Business Centre, we are happy to continue the tenancy for as long as the new business-owner wishes.
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^^ Abbey Studios Business Centre ^^1
Your customers will be able to find your office/shop at Abbey Studios, simply by following the “Arbroath Abbey” signs that appear all around town.
=> If or when you would like to grow your business, we will be happy to buy and renovating the shop in the High Street of your choosing.
Also, the Abbey a very nice place to go for a walk. Especially if you combine a lunch hour exploring the Arbroath Abbey Visitor Centre.
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This “1 James Street” door is the entrance to our first floor office stairwell…
The temporary brass plaque will be replaced by this one which has just been ordered…
As half of our newstart business incubator offices are upstairs, there will be a full “Registered Office” board placed by the 1 James Street Entrance. Something akin to this…
The building at 280 High Street and long set of offices and shop windows stretching into the distance along James Street have been empty for three years since Swinton Insurance closed. The property required some remedial works to repair: overhaul of the roof; the interior; electrical rewiring; a new fire safety system; plumbing systems and general refurbishment.
Plus we have a group of Dragons’ Den style of business mentors with the skillset that has helped many new and recently established businesses grow and reach their full potential.
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
With the smaller offices guided at £29 to £78 per week rental, the medium size to larger offices are now available in this substantial building. The average size of office we have is £49 per week. Just £7 per day. That is because we have worked hard over the past 35 years to keep rents AFFORDABLE in the company efforts at helping to keep the High Street of various towns ALIVE.
Our aim, indeed our experience is that a demand exists for more economically priced smaller offices to bridge the gap between newstart businesses moving out of the spare bedroom at your home-office and into a fully-fledged shop or stand-alone offices in the High Street with £800 to £1,000 cost in rent and overheads. Usually these moves to more professional settings carry very substantial risk to viability of your business. A financial and business shock to many. Often such extra red-tape costs are fatal to embryonic businesses. But major employers such as Amazon, Apple and Google started out life this way.
$700 Billion Apple Inc., started out in a small garage by the side of his friend’s house. But a lot of work was done at the next premises as Steve Wosniak explains: here
A little bit of myth, but has a decent amount of truth for many fledgling businesses
They and other successful companies always kept a firm eye on the costs and overheads. Hence the provision of modest sized, professional offices at locally affordable prices: £29 to £78 per week (average new office rental is £49 per week). This helps embryonic young businesses gain confidence and build up their financial reserves as a first step rather than take on high levels of cost from the get-go.
Whether you are an accountant, estate-agent, electrician, plumber or book-keeper; even an Ebay business person that has outgrown your home garage and your spouse is getting grumpy because your success is taking over the house, we should be able to help you.
First, with a cost-effective office/retail unit with…
Abbey Studios at 280 High Street, Arbroath, DD11 1JF.
Then when you are ready, WE ARE HAPPY TO LOOK AT… buying a bespoke shop for you to rent and assist you in your journey of growth.
In due course, we generally help nurture newstart plus growing businesses evolve from the back bedroom or garage of the entrepreneur’s home to a fully fledged shop or light industrial unit/factory setting.
We even buy shops for our tenants when they need larger premises to rent and cannot afford the full capital outlay themselves. Particularly if it helps regenerate a tired looking High Street.
Indeed keeping High Street shops alive will become particularly difficult with the advent of Covid-19. In fact, with 2,500,000 folk looking at the stark option of unemployment once the Furlough money runs out and ruthless Willie Walsh types at British Airways fire tens of thousands of people, the least the rest of us can do is work together to create new jobs.
Ideal For Advertising Your Business
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
Over the past 35 years our group of Real Dragons’ Den directors and subscribers have renovated 78 buildings and created over 203 new jobs.
Each business is a stand-alone entity as the shareholders tend to differ from project to project. Sometimes it is a High Street shop, other times it is bringing a closed-down hotel back to to life…
^^ Sannox Hotel Restoration ^^
We Added A NEW Village Shop
To The Planning Permission.
(this has been granted in full)
12 new jobs are destined here
& the re-opening of a village amenity
on the Island of Arran
Our Real Dragons’ Den mentors prefer investing in hotel renovations and catering jobs, others prefer factories and the provision of industrial jobs. Others from our main group have expertise in town centre regeneration and enjoy getting empty, disused shops re-opened with retail staff employed in new jobs.
This specific premises and project at 280 High Street, Arbroath is owned by venture capital/job creators that prefer office premises. Though because Tayport Group Ltd and Scotslion Ltd., shall be utilising a couple of the 14 offices for their own HQ purposes, we are delighted to advise new tenants that if they desire, there is skillset at hand which can be deployed to help you overcome many hurdles and help make your own chosen venture a success. This is entirely optional. Many folk just seek a High Street presence and can run their business as they have created it and know it best. But there is a comfort that you have people onsite that can lend a hand if needed. Entirely at your option.
If you would like to enquire about renting one of these offices or shops (even a restaurant or a hotel) you can do so in writing…
Tel/Text Tayport Group Ltd: 0757 2768 795.
In a strange way, things are likely to come right in the end. Because as the prices of buying shop premises comes down down to much more affordable levels, so too does the rent. This hands businesses a decent chance of viability and success. In these circumstances, we all win.
Standard Invoice Form…